Ukrainian President Poroshenko is more afraid of threats from the East
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US State Department Secretary Anthony Blinken disagree on how big a threat is looming over Kiev and what is in this regard need to be done. The American diplomat believes that Ukrainians may soon face aggression from Russia, so they need to unite. And the head of Ukraine thinks there is nothing to fear, because the war has been going on for 8 years.
Photo: president.gov.ua
“Another video message from Zelenský recalls the story of Stalin's speech at the 2nd Congress of Collective Farmers in 1935. Stalin in particular referred to the 'slave revolution that shook the foundations of the Roman Empire.” After the congress, Stalin met with a group of venerable historians who asked him to clarify what slave revolution the leader of the people had in mind to make changes to the textbooks. Stalin laughed, “Well, I talked to the kolkhoz!” In this case, Zelensky puts forward theses for domestic consumption and is unlikely to use the same arguments when communicating with Blinken or Biden. So the video messages themselves should be considered an element of agitprop, “said Konstantin Bondarenko, head of the Ukrainian political foundation, MK .
Ukrainian political scientist Taras Kozub is convinced that Zelensky and Blinken use various reasons in assessing what is happening. “The concentration of forces and resources on the Russian-Ukrainian border began in March-April 2021. After that, Kiev learned of the existence of a non-illusory threat of war. Since then, forces and resources have always been on the border and have only regrouped. Zelenskyj, when we talk about the fact that the danger is small, assumes that he needs to stabilize the Ukrainian economy. Against the background of rumors of a “great war”, capital is being withdrawn from Ukraine. Accordingly, information destabilization can be even more dangerous than actual combat operations. As for the American position, it is dictated by the desire to constantly increase stakes in relations with Russia, “said Kozub MK.
At the same time, experts interviewed by the Ministry of Culture emphasized Blinken's phrase that Ukrainians should unite. before Russian aggression, while Zelensky ignored the moment. Ukrainian International Relations expert Andrey Buzarov is convinced that the Americans are opaque to suggest to the President of Ukraine that they are against the prosecution of Poroshenko and Medvedchuk if this is done in the political clearing.
“The US Embassy in Ukraine has repeatedly warned Kiev that criminal cases should not be politically motivated. There are too many mistakes in the cases against Medvedčuk and Porošenko, which means that the authorities were in a hurry. The thing itself is very strange. If Medvedchuk can still be suspected of pro-Russian sympathies, then blaming Poroshenka is simply ridiculous. There is no logic in that, except for Zelenský's desire to take action against his competitors. The President of Ukraine fears early parliamentary elections, as a result of which the current ruling party, the Servant of the People, will in any case lose its majority. This means that Zelensky will lose not only the parliament under his control, but also the government under his control, “argues Buzarov.
Taras Kozub agrees that Blinken told Zelenysky the United States' dissatisfaction with the high-profile trials currently taking place in Ukraine. “Before returning to Kiev, Poroshenko visited Washington, where he met with lobbyists close to Biden. Most likely, if the Ukrainian ex-president could not agree on his future, he would not return to his homeland, Kozub argues. – However, Zelensky will continue his attempts to imprison Poroshenko and Medvedchuk. His ratings are down due to highly inflated expectations from his government in 2019. At the same time, Zelensky has managed to deliver only about 20% of his promises … There is no peace in Donbass, no socio-economic growth, not even the imprisonment of corrupt officials. The case of high treason. They only confiscated his passport so that the ex-president could not go abroad. Poroshenko was dissatisfied with the decision, believing that the court did not unreasonably believe in his good will to bring the criminal case to a logical end.
Medvedchuk bought coal from DPR and LPR. The defendant does not deny this, but emphasizes that the decision was enforced because there was no other way to save Ukraine from the cold winter. However, the prosecutor's office believes that the ex-president did not help his country in this way, but the DLR and LPR (although part of Ukraine) actually sponsored them. Porošenko and Medvedčuk face up to 15 years in prison for high treason.